A Tale of Two Cities

We need to trust "Classics" more. I read the Tale of two cities and was genuinely profoundly moved by it.

i recently re-read the wisdom of crowds, ~15 years now since i first read it. still good, still relevant. there's even a section on how quickly SARS was identified in international collaboration despite no central, coordinating entity. it's covertly a book about statistical reasoning, but with no dry statistical language, subversive in a way. we need more statistical reasoning in the world, particularly around risk assessment, to subdue fear and panic. edit: as for fiction, james clavell's asian saga[0] series is entertaining historical fiction, which i've read twice. pat conroy's southern portraits, particularly the lords of discipline and the prince of tides, both wrenching, haunting, and beautiful. also in the historical/cultural fiction realm: anna karenina, crime and punishment, a tale of two cities, les miserables. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Asian_Saga

The more I read, the more I realize that fiction has a way of teaching the same lessons as nonfiction, only in a better, humane way that is not like someone lecturing at you from a podium, but more like a friend sitting down for a heart-to-heart conversation with you. In this vein, I've started catching up on all the classics I haven't read yet, and there are a lot of them. At first, I was hesitant to dive into classics, because I thought they were hard to read and highbrow. This has mostly not been the case (with the exception of Wuthering Heights, which I found impossible to get through). To wit, the best books I've read this year include: A Tale of Two Cities - Impossible to get through the first several chapters, but after that, you're off to the races between France and England in the 18th century. Dickens used historical books as reference, but recreated the mood entirely from imagination. A better primer than anything in the news about Anglo-French relations, learning trust, and sacrifice.…